US10924667B2 - Image sensor and image sensing method - Google Patents

Image sensor and image sensing method Download PDF

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US10924667B2
US10924667B2 US16/394,822 US201916394822A US10924667B2 US 10924667 B2 US10924667 B2 US 10924667B2 US 201916394822 A US201916394822 A US 201916394822A US 10924667 B2 US10924667 B2 US 10924667B2
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lens
sensing
elements
image sensor
image
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US20200112671A1 (en
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Deokyoung KANG
Yang Ho CHO
Dong Kyung Nam
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Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
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Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
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Assigned to SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. reassignment SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: CHO, YANG HO, KANG, Deokyoung, NAM, DONG KYUNG
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/14—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation
    • H01L27/144—Devices controlled by radiation
    • H01L27/146—Imager structures
    • H01L27/14601—Structural or functional details thereof
    • H01L27/14625—Optical elements or arrangements associated with the device
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/95—Computational photography systems, e.g. light-field imaging systems
    • H04N23/957—Light-field or plenoptic cameras or camera modules
    • H04N5/23232—
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/95—Computational photography systems, e.g. light-field imaging systems
    • H04N23/951—Computational photography systems, e.g. light-field imaging systems by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
    • G02B13/001—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras
    • G02B13/0015—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras characterised by the lens design
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
    • G02B13/001—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras
    • G02B13/0055—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras employing a special optical element
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
    • G02B13/001—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras
    • G02B13/0085—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras employing wafer level optics
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B3/00—Simple or compound lenses
    • G02B3/0006—Arrays
    • G02B3/0037—Arrays characterized by the distribution or form of lenses
    • G02B3/0043—Inhomogeneous or irregular arrays, e.g. varying shape, size, height
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T3/00—Geometric image transformations in the plane of the image
    • G06T3/40—Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
    • G06T3/4053—Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting based on super-resolution, i.e. the output image resolution being higher than the sensor resolution
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T5/00—Image enhancement or restoration
    • G06T5/001—
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/14—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation
    • H01L27/144—Devices controlled by radiation
    • H01L27/146—Imager structures
    • H01L27/14601—Structural or functional details thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/45—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/50—Constructional details
    • H04N23/54—Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/50—Constructional details
    • H04N23/55—Optical parts specially adapted for electronic image sensors; Mounting thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
    • H04N23/70—Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
    • H04N23/71—Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation
    • H04N5/2254—
    • H04N5/2258—
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N5/00—Details of television systems
    • H04N5/222—Studio circuitry; Studio devices; Studio equipment
    • H04N5/262—Studio circuits, e.g. for mixing, switching-over, change of character of image, other special effects ; Cameras specially adapted for the electronic generation of special effects
    • H04N5/2628—Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
    • G06T2207/20—Special algorithmic details
    • G06T2207/20081—Training; Learning
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
    • H04N25/70—SSIS architectures; Circuits associated therewith
    • H04N25/702—SSIS architectures characterised by non-identical, non-equidistant or non-planar pixel layout

Definitions

  • Example embodiments consistent with the present disclosure relate to technology for sensing an image.
  • an image capturing apparatus may be mounted in a mobile device, a camera, a vehicle or a computer, to capture an image, to recognize an object or to acquire data to control a device.
  • a size of an image capturing apparatus may be determined based on, for example, a size of a lens, a focal length of a lens or a size of a sensor.
  • the size of the image capturing apparatus may depend on a size of a lens or a size of a sensor. As the size of the sensor decreases, an amount of light incident on the sensor may decrease.
  • a resolution of an image may decrease, or it may be difficult to capture an image in a low illuminance environment.
  • a multi-lens including small lenses may be used. When the size of the lens decreases, a focal length of the lens may decrease. Thus, the size of the image capturing apparatus may be reduced based on the multi-lens.
  • One or more example embodiments may address at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, the example embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and an example embodiment may not overcome any of the problems described above.
  • One or more example embodiments provide an image sensor and an image sensing method.
  • an image sensor includes a lens array comprising a plurality of lens elements, each of the plurality of lens elements having a same focal length; and a plurality of sensing elements spaced apart from the lens array by the focal length and configured to sense light passing through the lens array, wherein a lens size of at least one lens element from among the plurality of lens elements is different from a lens size of another lens element from among the plurality of lens elements.
  • the plurality of lens elements may be classified into a plurality of lens groups based on lens size, each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups may correspond to a respective lens size such that for each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups, lens elements included in the lens group have the corresponding lens size, and the respective lens size corresponding to each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups may be different from respective lens sizes of the remaining lens groups from among the plurality of lens groups.
  • Each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups may be configured to cover a same number of sensing elements from among the plurality of sensing elements, and a number of lens elements included in each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups may be determined based on the number of sensing elements that are covered.
  • lens elements included in the lens group may be located adjacent to each other.
  • One lens group from among the plurality of lens groups may include a single lens element.
  • a first lens element from among the plurality of lens elements may be located closer to a central position of the lens array than a second lens element from among the plurality of lens elements, the second lens element having a lens size greater than a lens size of the first lens element.
  • Each of the plurality of lens elements may be randomly located with respect to the plurality of sensing elements on a plane corresponding to the lens array.
  • Each lens element from among the plurality of lens elements may be configured to cover a same number of sensing elements from among the plurality of sensing elements.
  • At least one lens element from among the plurality of lens elements may be arranged to cover less than an entire portion of at least one sensing element from among the plurality of sensing elements.
  • the image sensor may further include a processor configured to restore an image based on sensing information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements so that a resolution of a central region within a field of view (FOV) of the lens array is higher than a resolution of a region adjacent to the central region.
  • a processor configured to restore an image based on sensing information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements so that a resolution of a central region within a field of view (FOV) of the lens array is higher than a resolution of a region adjacent to the central region.
  • FOV field of view
  • the image sensor may further include a processor configured to acquire a compound eye vision (CEV) image based on sensing information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements
  • CEV compound eye vision
  • the processor may be further configured to rearrange pixels included in the CEV image based on light field (LF) information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements.
  • LF light field
  • the processor may be further configured to restore a scene image from the CEV image based on a geometric relationship between the plurality of sensing elements and the plurality of lens elements.
  • the processor may be further configured to restore a scene image from the CEV image based on an image restoration model that is completely trained before the CEV image is acquired.
  • the image sensor may further include a processor configured to select target sensing information from among sensing information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements, the target sensing information corresponding to a zoom factor designated by a user, and the processor may be further configured to restore a scene image based on the selected target sensing information.
  • the processor may be further configured to select, as the target sensing information, information corresponding to a field of view corresponding to the designated zoom factor.
  • Each lens element from among the plurality of lens elements may be configured to refract incident light and to form a focal point of light exiting the lens element at a point on a sensing array comprising the plurality of sensing elements.
  • the plurality of lens elements may be classified into a plurality of lens groups based on field of view (FOV), each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups may correspond to a respective FOV such that the respective FOV corresponding to each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups is different from respective FOVs of remaining lens groups from among the plurality of lens groups, and, for each lens group from among the plurality of lens groups, sensing elements from among the plurality of sensing elements included in a sensing region covered by the lens group may be configured to sense rays corresponding to a FOV corresponding to the lens group.
  • FOV field of view
  • the image sensor may be included in a mobile terminal.
  • an image sensing method includes sensing, by a plurality of sensing elements, light passing through a plurality of lens elements, each of the plurality of lens elements having a same focal length; and restoring, by a processor, a scene image based on an intensity of the light sensed by the plurality of sensing elements, wherein a lens size of at least one lens element from among the plurality of lens elements is different from a lens size of another lens element from among the plurality of lens elements.
  • a camera includes a lens array configured to refract incident light rays reflected from an imaging subject; and a sensor configured to sense the light rays refracted by the lens array, wherein the lens array comprises a first lens having a first diameter and a second lens having a second diameter that is different from the first diameter.
  • the lens array may include a plurality of first lenses having the first diameter and a plurality of second lenses having the second diameter.
  • a first area of the sensor covered by the plurality of first lenses and a second area of the sensor covered by the plurality of second lenses may have a same size.
  • the sensor may include a plurality of sensing elements, and each of the plurality of first lenses and the plurality of second lenses may cover a same number of sensing elements from among the plurality of sensing elements.
  • the number of sensing elements may be a non-integral number.
  • Each sensing element from among the plurality of sensing elements may be configured to sense a first light ray reflected from a first point of the imaging subject and a second light ray from a second point of the imaging subject.
  • the plurality of sensing elements may include a first sensing element configured to sense a first light ray that has been refracted by the first lens having the first diameter and a second light ray that has been refracted by another lens from among the plurality of first lenses having the first diameter.
  • the plurality of first lenses may correspond to a first field of view
  • the plurality of second lenses may correspond to a second field of view different from the first field of view
  • FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an image sensor according to an example embodiment
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a sensing element receives a ray through a lens element according to an example embodiment
  • FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a number of sensing elements and a number of lens elements according to an example embodiment
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a number of lens elements and a size of a lens element that are determined based on a focal length and a desired field of view (FOV) in a lens array according to an example embodiment
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement of lens elements in a lens array according to an example embodiment
  • FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating FOVs of a scene sensed by sensing elements through lens elements arranged as described above with reference to FIG. 5 ;
  • FIGS. 7 through 10 are diagrams illustrating examples of an arrangement of lens elements according to example embodiments.
  • FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of an image sensor according to an example embodiment.
  • FIGS. 12 and 13 are diagrams illustrating examples of an apparatus in which an image sensor is implemented according to an example embodiment.
  • FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an image sensor according to an example embodiment.
  • a quality of an image captured and restored by an image sensor 100 may be determined based on a number of sensing elements included in a sensing array 120 and an amount of light incident on a sensing element. For example, a resolution of the image may be determined based on the number of the sensing elements included in the sensing array 120 , and a sensitivity of the image may be determined based on the amount of light incident on the sensing element. The amount of light incident on the sensing element may be determined based on a size of the sensing element. When the size of the sensing element increases, the amount of light incident on the sensing element and a dynamic range of the sensing array 120 may increase.
  • a resolution of an image captured by the image sensor 100 may increase as the number of the sensing elements included in the sensing array 120 increases. Also, as the size of the sensing element increases, the image sensor 100 may improve the quality of high sensitivity imaging at a low illuminance.
  • a size (volume) of the image sensor 100 may be determined based on a focal length f of a lens element 111 .
  • the size of the image sensor 100 may be determined based on a gap between the lens element 111 and the sensing array 120 . Because the sensing array 120 needs to be located at the focal length f of the lens element 111 to collect light 190 refracted by the lens element 111 , the sensing array 120 and the lens element 111 included in the image sensor 100 may need to be spaced apart from each other by a distance equal to the focal length f of the lens element 111 .
  • the focal length f of the lens element 111 may be determined based on a field of view (FOV) of the image sensor 100 and a size of the lens element 111 , for example, a radius of an aperture of the lens element 111 .
  • FOV field of view
  • the focal length f may increase in proportion to the size of the lens element 111 .
  • the size of the lens element 111 may be determined based on a size of the sensing array 120 . For example, to capture an image within a predetermined FOV, the size of the lens element 111 may need to increase as the size of the sensing array 120 increases.
  • the size of the image sensor 100 may be increased.
  • a size of each sensing element included in the sensing array 120 may need to increase while maintaining the same number of sensing elements.
  • the size of the sensing array 120 may increase.
  • the size of the lens element 111 may increase as the size of the sensing array 120 increases, and the focal length f of the lens element 111 may increase.
  • the size of the image sensor 100 may increase.
  • design schemes for reducing a size of a sensing element while maintaining the resolution of the sensing array 120 , or for reducing the resolution of the sensing array 120 while maintaining the size of the sensing element may be used.
  • the size of the sensing element when the size of the sensing element is reduced while maintaining the resolution of the sensing array 120 , the size of the sensing array 120 and the focal length f of the lens element 111 may decrease, which may lead to a decrease in the size of the image sensor 100 .
  • a sensitivity of the image may also decrease, and a quality of an image under low illuminance may be reduced.
  • the size of the sensing array 120 and the focal length f of the lens element 111 may decrease, which may lead to a decrease in the size of the image sensor 100 .
  • a resolution of an image may also decrease.
  • the image sensor 100 may include a lens array 110 and the sensing array 120 .
  • the lens array 110 may include lens elements 111
  • the sensing array 120 may include sensing elements 121 .
  • the focal length f of the lens element 111 and the thickness of the image sensor 100 may decrease.
  • the image sensor 100 may restore a high resolution image by rearranging and combining low resolution images passing through individual lens elements 111 .
  • a thinner camera may be implemented by increasing the number of lens elements in the lens array 110 .
  • lens element 111 of the lens array 110 may cover a predetermined sensing region 125 of the sensing array 120 corresponding to a size of the lens element 111 .
  • the sensing region 125 covered by the lens element 111 may be determined based on the size of the lens element 111 .
  • the sensing region 125 may refer to a region on the sensing array 120 that is reached by rays within a predetermined FOV by passing through the lens element 111 .
  • a size of the sensing region 125 may be represented as a distance D from a central point of the sensing region 125 to an outermost point of the sensing region 125 .
  • the light 190 passing through the lens element 111 may be incident on sensing elements of the sensing array 120 included in the sensing region 125 .
  • the light 190 may include a plurality of rays.
  • a ray 191 may correspond to a flow (i.e., a path) of a photon 101 .
  • a lens size may correspond to a diameter of the lens.
  • Each of the sensing elements in the sensing array 120 may generate sensing information based on incident rays 191 passing through the lens elements 111 included in the lens array 110 .
  • a sensing element 121 may generate sensing information based on the ray 191 incident through the lens element 111 .
  • the image sensor 100 may determine intensity information corresponding to an original signal associated with points included in a FOV of the image sensor 100 based on the sensing information output from the sensing array 120 . Also, the image sensor 100 may restore a captured image based on the determined intensity information.
  • the sensing element 121 may also include a color filter to sense an arbitrary color. In this case, the sensing element 121 may generate a color value corresponding to a predetermined color as sensing information. Each of the sensing elements included in the sensing array 120 may be located to sense a color different from that of a neighboring sensing element that is spatially adjacent to the sensing element. However, an arrangement of the sensing element 121 and the color filter of the sensing element 121 are not limited thereto.
  • a captured image corresponding to a maximum resolution of the sensing array 120 may be derived.
  • the diversity of sensing information may be secured based on parameters of the image sensor 100 , for example, a number of lens elements included in the lens array 110 or a number of sensing elements included in the sensing array 120 .
  • the image sensor 100 may include a memory configured to store an image restoration model used to restore an image, and a processor configured to restore an image using the image restoration model stored in the memory.
  • the image sensor 100 may restore an image robustly against various noise components that deviate from ideal conditions. Also, the image sensor 100 may restore an image without being affected by an arbitrary pattern such as a Bayer pattern that may be arranged on the sensing elements. Examples of an operation of restoring a high resolution image based on a plurality of low resolution images captured using multiple lenses by the image sensor 100 will be described below.
  • the plurality of low resolution images that are used in combination to form a high resolution image may collectively be referred to as a compound eye vision (CEV) image.
  • CEV compound eye vision
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example in which sensing elements receives rays through lens elements according to an example embodiment.
  • a sensing array 220 may receive rays corresponding to individual points 230 shown as X 1 through X 10 .
  • the rays may be detected by the sensing array 220 through a lens array 210 .
  • a plurality of rays may be emitted from each of the individual points 230 .
  • Rays emitted from the same point may form a light field (LF).
  • An LF emitted from an arbitrary point on a subject may be a field that indicates both the intensities and the directions of rays reflected from the arbitrary point on the subject.
  • rays emitted from a first point X 1 may form a first LF, and may be incident on a first sensing element S 1 , a fourth sensing element S 4 and a seventh sensing element S 7 .
  • Rays emitted from each of the other points, that is, points X 2 through X 10 may also form a corresponding LF.
  • the individual points 230 may be, for example, points on an arbitrary object that may be a subject of imaging. Rays emitted from the individual points 230 may be, for example, rays obtained when sunlight is reflected by the surface of an object.
  • the lens array 210 includes three lens elements and the sensing array 220 includes ten sensing elements (for example, sensing elements S 1 through S 10 ) as shown in FIG. 2 for convenience of description, example embodiments are not limited thereto.
  • the sensing elements S 1 through S 10 may sense rays that pass through a plurality of lens elements and that overlap each other. For example, in the lens array 210 of FIG. 2 , a focal length between a lens element and the sensing array 220 may be reduced. Thus, the first sensing element S 1 may generate sensing information, for example, an intensity value, that is the sum of intensity values of rays that are radiated from the points X 1 through X 3 and that overlap each other. Thus, information generated by each sensing element includes original signal information from multiple points 230 . An image sensor may restore the original signal information from the sensing information using a model as described below, for example.
  • the sensing information generated by the sensing elements S 1 through S 10 may be modeled to be original signal information, for example, an intensity value, corresponding to a ray incident from each of the points 230 , as shown in Equation 1 below.
  • S T ⁇ X [Equation 1]
  • Equation 1 S denotes a matrix representing sensing information, for example, a detected intensity value, sensed by each of sensing elements.
  • X denotes a matrix representing an original signal value, for example, a color value of an incident ray, corresponding to a ray incident on the sensing elements S 1 through S 10 from each point.
  • T denotes a transformation matrix that represents a relationship between sensing information detected by the sensing elements S 1 through S 10 and original signal information corresponding to an incident ray.
  • Rays corresponding to the individual points X 1 through X 10 , the lenses, and the sensing elements S 1 through S 10 in the structure of FIG. 2 may be modeled as shown in Equation 2 below.
  • the individual points X 1 through X 10 may be modeled to be located at an infinite focal point from the image sensor. For example, a distance between the image sensor and each of the individual points X 1 through X 10 may be greater than a threshold distance.
  • X 1 through X 10 denote original signal information, for example, a ray intensity value, of a ray corresponding to each of the individual points X 1 through X 10 .
  • S 1 through S 10 denote sensing information, for example, a sensing intensity value, detected by the sensing elements S 1 through S 10 .
  • a relationship, for example, the above-described transformation matrix, between the sensing information, for example, color information, corresponding to the sensing elements S 1 through S 10 included in the sensing array 220 and an original signal corresponding to rays incident from the individual points X 1 through X 10 may be determined based on an arrangement of a lens element and a sensing element, a number of lens elements included in the lens array 210 , or a number of sensing elements S 1 through S 10 included in the sensing array 220 .
  • the transformation matrix T is determined based on there being ten sensors S 1 through S 10 and three lens elements.
  • each of the individual points X 1 through X 10 is located at an infinite focal point from the image sensor is described with reference to Equation 2.
  • the original signal sensed by each sensing element may change based on a distance between a subject and the image sensor and a geometric structure of the image sensor.
  • FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a number of sensing elements and a number of lens elements according to an example embodiment.
  • At least one of a plurality of lens elements may be arranged eccentrically with respect to at least one of a plurality of sensing elements.
  • at least one lens element may cover less than an entire portion of at least one sensing element.
  • the plurality of lens elements may be arranged eccentrically, and may not be in a one-to-one relationship with the plurality of sensing elements.
  • a lens element may cover a non-integer number of sensing elements, instead of covering an integer number of sensing elements.
  • a multi-lens array structure may be implemented as a fractional alignment structure. Parameters of the multi-lens array structure may include, for example, a number P of sensing elements and a number L of lens elements.
  • a ratio P/L between the number P of sensing elements and the number L of lens elements may be determined as a non-integer rational number.
  • Each of the lens elements may cover the same number of sensing elements P/L as a pixel offset. In FIG. 3 , ten sensing elements and three lens elements are shown. Therefore, each of the lens elements covers 10/3, or approximately 3.33 sensing elements.
  • an image sensor may have an arrangement of lens elements that have slightly different optical center axes (OCAs) than those of sensing elements in a sensing array.
  • OCAs optical center axes
  • lens elements included in a lens array may receive different LF information. Since a direction of a chief ray of each of the lens elements is also changed, the image sensor may optically acquire a larger amount of sensing information. Thus, the image sensor may restore an image with a higher resolution based on a variety of sensing information acquired as described above.
  • a number of lens elements in the lens array and a number of sensing elements included in the sensing array may satisfy Equation 3 as shown below.
  • the number of lens elements and the number of sensing elements may be relatively prime.
  • Equation 3 R denotes an integer indicating a resolution of a sensing array with respect to one axis (i.e., the number of sensing elements in a single row of the sensing array), P denotes an integer indicating a number of sensing elements in the sensing array with respect to one axis, L denotes an integer indicating a number of lens elements in a lens array with respect to one axis (i.e., the number of lens elements in a single row of the lens array), and N denotes an arbitrary natural number to satisfy Equation 3.
  • R, P, and L may be represented on a two-dimensional (2D) plane.
  • the resolution R may be a resolution of the image sensor with respect to a horizontal axis or a vertical axis.
  • the resolution R with respect to the horizontal axis or the vertical axis may correspond to the number P of sensing elements in a single row in a direction corresponding to the horizontal or vertical axis.
  • L may indicate a number of lens elements based on the corresponding axis.
  • a full two-dimensional resolution of the sensing array may be represented by R ⁇ R, a total number of sensing elements in the two-dimensional sensing array may be P ⁇ P, and a total number of lens elements in the two-dimensional lens array may be L ⁇ L.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a horizontal axis or a vertical axis of the image sensor.
  • the number L of lens elements may be 3 and the number P of sensing elements may be 10, to satisfy a relatively prime relationship.
  • approximately 3.33 sensing elements may be covered by each lens element with respect to the axis.
  • a first lens element may cover all of sensing elements S 1 through S 3 and 1 ⁇ 3 of sensing element S 4 .
  • a second lens element may cover the remaining 2 ⁇ 3 of sensing element S 4 , all of sensing elements S 5 and S 6 , and 2 ⁇ 3 of sensing element S 7 .
  • a last lens element may cover the remaining 1 ⁇ 3 of sensing element S 7 and all of sensing elements S 8 through S 10 .
  • each of the lens elements may cover a portion of at least one sensing element corresponding to the same disparity as 1/L (i.e., a portion of a sensing element that is an integer multiple of 1/L) where L is the number of lenses.
  • LF information from the combination of points 230 sensed by a sensing element covered by one lens element may be different from LF information from the combination of points 230 sensed by a sensing element covered by another lens element.
  • LF information may refer to information about a combination of a plurality of LFs from a plurality of points 230 .
  • a first sensing element S 1 may sense LF information with a combination of a first LF of the first point X 1 of FIG. 2 , a second LF of the second point X 2 and a third LF of the third point X 3 .
  • a second sensing element S 2 adjacent to the first sensing element S 1 may sense LF information with a combination of a fourth LF, a fifth LF and a sixth LF in the structure of FIG. 2 .
  • one sensing element may sense LF information different from LF information sensed by another sensing element.
  • the image sensor may rearrange positions of pixels of a captured image based on a correlation between LF information.
  • the image sensor may rearrange pixels of a captured image, for example, a CEV image, to generate an output image in which pixels of sensing elements that sense similar LF information among the plurality of sensing elements are adjacent to each other.
  • the image sensor may rearrange pixels indicating an intensity value of a signal sensed by an individual sensing element, based on a similarity between LF sensed by the sensing element and LF information sensed by another sensing element, as shown in FIG. 3 . For example, it may be determined that a similarity between the LF information of two sensing elements increases as the number of overlapping LFs in LF information sensed by the two sensing elements increases.
  • the image sensor may determine the LF information sensed by each of the sensing elements. For example, the image sensor may determine points that emit an LF sensed by each of the plurality of sensing elements based on a position relationship between the plurality of sensing elements and rays radiated from points spaced apart from the image sensor by a distance greater than a threshold distance. A point spaced apart from the image sensor by the distance greater than the threshold distance may also be referred to as a “point at an infinite focal point.”
  • the image sensor may rearrange pixels such that pixels representing points that are spatially adjacent to each other in a subject of imaging are adjacent to each other in the output image.
  • the individual points X 1 through X 10 of FIG. 2 are adjacent to each other in an order shown in FIG. 2 .
  • the first point X 1 may be adjacent to the second point X 2
  • the second point X 2 may be adjacent to the first point X 1 and the third point X 3 .
  • Two adjacent points may be, for example, points that are spatially adjacent to each other in a subject.
  • Both LF information sensed by the first sensing element S 1 and LF information sensed by an eighth sensing element S 8 among the sensing elements 311 that are not rearranged may include LFs from both of the second point X 2 and the third point X 3 .
  • the first sensing element S 1 and the eighth sensing element S 8 may be determined to sense similar LF information.
  • Equation 2 may be represented as shown in Equation 4 below.
  • sensing elements 312 are rearranged based on Equation 4.
  • first sensing element S 1 may be covered by the first lens
  • the eighth sensing element S 8 may be covered by the third lens
  • a fifth sensing element S 5 may be covered by the second lens.
  • the three pixels corresponding to first sensing element S 1 , eighth sensing element S 8 , and fifth sensing element S 5 are arranged to be adjacent to each other.
  • the image sensor may apply a rearrangement and restoration to an image captured by the lens array and the sensing array that satisfy a relatively prime condition and Equation 3, to restore a high resolution scene image with colors more similar to the original scene.
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a number of lens elements and a size of a lens element that are determined based on a focal length and a desired FOV in a lens array according to an example embodiment.
  • An image sensor may include a lens array 410 and a sensing array 420 , as described above.
  • the lens array 410 may include a plurality of lens elements. A lens size of at least one of the plurality of lens elements may be different from that of another lens element.
  • the plurality of lens elements may be classified into a plurality of lens groups based on a lens size.
  • the lens groups may be groups of lens elements classified by the lens size.
  • lens elements included in the same lens group may have the same lens size
  • lens elements included in different lens groups may have different lens sizes.
  • the lens size corresponding to any one lens group may be different from the lens sizes corresponding to all other lens groups.
  • the image sensor may include lens elements with various FOVs.
  • a FOV of a lens element may be represented as shown in Equation 5 below.
  • FOV denotes a FOV
  • D denotes a size of a sensing region covered by the lens element
  • F denotes a focal length 419 .
  • the image sensor may be implemented in (i.e., included in) a mobile terminal, and the focal length 419 may be limited to satisfy a form factor of the mobile terminal.
  • the focal length 419 may be less than a thickness of the mobile terminal.
  • lens groups may be designed such that they all have the same focal length 419 . Additionally, the lens groups may all have different FOVs from one another.
  • the image sensor may include the lens array 410 including lens groups with various FOVs.
  • a size for example, D of Equation 5
  • the lens array 410 may be designed so that a number of lens elements included in the lens group increases with an increase of a zoom factor of the lens group.
  • the relationship between FOV and the size of the sensing region enables a constant focal length of the lens group to be maintained.
  • a lens size of lens elements included in the lens group may decrease as a zoom factor of the lens group increases.
  • a lens size of each of lens elements included in the lens group may decrease as the number of the lens elements included in the lens group increases.
  • a number of lens elements included in an arbitrary lens group may be determined based on a lens size, which may itself be determined based on a focal length and a FOV of the lens group.
  • Equation 6 a number of lens elements shown along one axis of the lens array 410 (i.e., a number of lens elements in each row of the lens group) may satisfy Equation 6 as shown below.
  • R i denotes a resolution of an image sensed by an i-th lens group (i.e., a number of sensing elements in each row of a sensing region corresponding to the lens group)
  • L i denotes a number of lens elements corresponding to the i-th lens group lens along one axis of the lens array 410
  • N i denotes an arbitrary natural number
  • M denotes a number of lens groups included in the lens array 410 .
  • R i , L i , N i , and M may each be an integer greater than or equal to 1.
  • i may be an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to M.
  • a number of i-th lens elements included in the i-th lens group may be L i ⁇ L i .
  • FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the lens array 410 in which the number M of lens groups is 3.
  • a first lens group 411 , a second lens group 412 , and a third lens group 413 are shown sequentially from the left.
  • L 1 may represent a number of lens elements corresponding to the first lens group 411 along one axis of the lens array 410 , and may be 3, as shown in FIG. 4 .
  • L 2 may represent a number of lens elements corresponding to the second lens group 412 along one axis of the lens array 410 , and may be 9, as shown in FIG. 4 .
  • L 3 may represent a number of lens elements corresponding to the third lens group 413 along one axis of the lens array 410 , and may be 27, as shown in FIG. 4 . Since the cross-sectional view based on one axis with respect to the image sensor is also shown in FIG. 4 as described above with reference to FIG. 3 , L 1 , L 2 , and L 3 may each be a number of lens elements along the axis.
  • the first lens group 411 may include nine first lens elements obtained by 3 ⁇ 3 (i.e., three rows of lens elements each including three lens elements), the second lens group 412 may include 81 second lens elements obtained by 9 ⁇ 9 (i.e., nine rows of lens elements each including nine lens elements), and the third lens group 413 may include 729 third lens elements obtained by 27 ⁇ 27 (i.e., 27 rows of lens elements each including 27 lens elements).
  • the first lens group 411 may transfer rays within a first FOV 451 , for example, 77 degrees, to a first sensing element.
  • the first sensing element may be covered by a first lens element included in the first lens group 411 , and may receive light passing through the first lens element.
  • the first sensing element may sense information corresponding to a first zoom factor, for example, a zoom factor of 1 ⁇ .
  • the second lens group 412 may transfer rays within a second FOV 452 , for example, 30 degrees, to a second sensing element.
  • the second sensing element may be covered by a second lens element included in the second lens group 412 , and may receive light passing through the second lens element.
  • the second sensing element may sense information corresponding to a second zoom factor, for example, a zoom factor of 3 ⁇ .
  • the third lens group 413 may transfer rays within a third FOV 453 , for example, 10 degrees, to a third sensing element.
  • the third sensing element may be covered by a third lens element included in the third lens group 413 , and may receive light passing through the third lens element.
  • the third sensing element may sense information corresponding to a third zoom factor, for example, a zoom factor of 9 ⁇ .
  • the image sensor may be implemented as a single sensor, or a plurality of sensors that each include the same sensing elements.
  • the image sensor may be designed so that each lens group may support the same resolution.
  • a sensing region covered by any one of the lens groups may include the same number of sensing elements as that of another lens group.
  • a number of lens elements R shown along one axis of the lens array 410 may satisfy Equations 7, 8 and 9 shown below.
  • R L M ⁇ M +1 [Equation 7]
  • R denotes a resolution corresponding to one axis of a lens array shared by all lens groups.
  • L M denotes a number of lens elements that correspond to an M-th lens group along one axis of the lens array.
  • L i denotes a number of lens elements that correspond to an i-th lens group along one axis of the lens array.
  • N M , N i , and ⁇ i each denote an arbitrary natural number.
  • a number of lens elements included in each of a plurality of lens groups may be determined based on a resolution shared by the plurality of lens elements.
  • each of the lens groups may have a resolution shared by all the lens groups. Further, each of the lens groups may include a number of lens elements which is relatively prime to a number of sensing elements covered by each of the lens elements.
  • the image sensor may apply a rearrangement and restoration to an image captured by the lens array 410 and the sensing array 420 that satisfy a relatively prime condition and Equation 9, to restore a high resolution scene image with colors more similar to the original scene.
  • the image sensor may rearrange an image acquired by a camera that uses lens elements arranged in a Bayer pattern and a color sensor (for example, a sensor to sense an image of a red channel, a green channel and a blue channel in a visible light band) in which sensing elements are arranged in a Bayer pattern, in an order of similar LFs, as described above.
  • the image sensor may obtain a uniform color pattern, to provide a color interpolation with a higher performance.
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement of lens elements in a lens array according to an example embodiment.
  • Lens elements included in the same lens group may be arranged to be adjacent to each other.
  • first lens elements of a first lens group 511 with a first lens size may be arranged adjacent to each other.
  • Lens elements included in each of the other lens groups for example, a second lens group 512 , a third lens group 513 , and a fourth lens group 514 , may also be arranged adjacent to each other.
  • the third lens group 513 may include 64 lens elements
  • the fourth lens group 514 may include 256 lens elements.
  • an image sensor is implemented as a single sensor for convenience of description in FIG. 5 , example embodiments are not limited thereto.
  • the image sensor may be implemented as four individual image sensors, each including one of the above-noted lens groups, or as different types of image sensors, for example, sensors having individual sensing elements that are different in size.
  • a processor of the image sensor may acquire a CEV image based on sensing information sensed by a plurality of sensing elements.
  • a CEV image may refer to an image acquired by overlappingly capturing the same or a similar scene, in a manner similar to the operation of the compound eyes of an insect.
  • the image sensor may acquire a CEV image based on intensities of rays received from a plurality of sensing elements through a plurality of lenses arranged in an array.
  • the processor may generate a CEV image that includes 2 ⁇ 2 first group images obtained by sensing light received through the first lens group 511 , 4 ⁇ 4 second group images obtained by sensing light received through the second lens group 512 , 8 ⁇ 8 third group images obtained by sensing light received through the third lens group 513 , and 16 ⁇ 16 fourth group images obtained by sensing light received through the fourth lens group 514 .
  • the processor may rearrange the CEV image based on LF information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements, as described above with reference to FIG. 3 .
  • Sensing information associated with a scene and acquired through the lens array 510 of FIG. 5 is described below with reference to FIG. 6 .
  • FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating FOVs of a scene sensed by sensing elements through lens elements arranged as described above with reference to FIG. 5 .
  • a lens array may receive light from the outside of an image sensor and may transfer the light to a sensing array.
  • Lens elements in the lens array may have different FOVs based on a lens size. For example, referring to FIG. 5 , a first lens element included in the first lens group 511 may have a first FOV, a second lens element included in the second lens group 512 may have a second FOV, a third lens element included in the third lens group 513 may have a third FOV, and a fourth lens element included in the fourth lens group 514 may have a fourth FOV.
  • Sensing elements included in a sensing region covered by each lens group may sense rays corresponding to a FOV of a corresponding lens group.
  • FIG. 6 illustrates sensing information sensed by a sensing element covered by a corresponding lens group, for each FOV of a lens group.
  • a first sensing element covered by the first lens element may receive rays corresponding to the first FOV through the first lens element, and may sense first sensing information 611 .
  • the first sensing information 611 may be sensing information associated with a region 610 corresponding to the first FOV.
  • a second sensing element may receive rays corresponding to the second FOV through the second lens element, and may sense second sensing information 621 .
  • the second sensing information 621 may be sensing information associated with a region 620 corresponding to the second FOV. As shown in FIG. 6 , the region 620 may be smaller than the region 610 .
  • a third sensing element may receive rays corresponding to the third FOV through the third lens element, and may sense third sensing information 631 .
  • the third sensing information 631 may be sensing information associated with a region 630 corresponding to the third FOV, which is shown in FIG. 6 as smaller than the region 620 .
  • a fourth sensing element may receive rays corresponding to the fourth FOV through the fourth lens element, and may sense fourth sensing information 641 .
  • the fourth sensing information 641 may be sensing information associated with a region 640 corresponding to the fourth FOV, which is shown in FIG. 6 as smaller than the third region 630 .
  • a density of the collected sensing information may be less than that of a central region (for example, the region 640 corresponding to the fourth FOV). All sensing information sensed by the first sensing element through the fourth sensing element may be collected in the central region, and thus a density of the sensing information may be high relative to the edge portion.
  • a processor of the image sensor may restore an image based on sensing information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements, so that a central region within a FOV corresponding to the lens array may have a resolution higher than a region adjacent to the central region.
  • the image sensor may generate a scene image that is zoomed-in based on the input zoom factor. For example, the image sensor may select target sensing information corresponding to a zoom factor designated by a user from sensing information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements. The image sensor may select information corresponding to a FOV corresponding to a zoom factor as target sensing information from the sensing information. The image sensor may restore a scene image using the selected target information. For example, when a zoom factor corresponding to the second FOV designated to the second lens group in FIG. 6 is input, the image sensor may restore the scene image based on sensing information sensed in the region 620 corresponding to the second FOV.
  • An operation of restoring a scene image may include an operation of rearranging pixels based on a geometric structure of the image sensor, or an operation of estimating an output image from a CEV image using an image restoration model.
  • regions corresponding to FOVs provided by each lens element for the zoomed-in image may overlap. Due to the above overlapping of the regions, the image sensor may restore the zoomed-in scene image with higher resolution by simultaneously using all information from all lens groups, for example, using information from lens elements having various lens sizes.
  • rays reflected or emitted from points at an infinite focal point are assumed to be received.
  • a range of a FOV of each lens group of the image sensor may change.
  • FIGS. 7 through 10 are diagrams illustrating examples of an arrangement of lens elements according to an example embodiments.
  • one of a plurality of lens groups may include a single lens element.
  • a first lens group 711 may include a single lens element.
  • Each of the other lens groups 712 , 713 and 714 may include a plurality of lens elements, as described above.
  • an image sensor may restore a scene image based on sensing information sensed through the lens array 710 having a structure of FIG. 7 so that both a quality of a wide angle image and a quality of an image corresponding to a zoom factor may be enhanced.
  • lens elements may be arranged based on a lens size. For example, one lens element from among a plurality of lens elements may be located closer to a central position of the lens array 810 than another lens element that has a lens size greater than a lens size of the one lens element. Also, one lens element among the plurality of lens elements may be located farther away from the central position of the lens array 810 than another lens element that has a lens size less than a lens size of the one lens element.
  • first lens elements 811 included in a first lens group having a greatest first lens size among four lens groups may be located on an edge of the lens array 810 .
  • Second lens elements 812 having a second lens size less than the first lens size may be located closer to the central position than the first lens elements 811 .
  • Third lens elements 813 having a third lens size less than the second lens size may be located closer to the central position than the second lens elements 812 .
  • Fourth lens elements 814 having a fourth lens size less than the third lens size may be located closer to the central position than the third lens elements 813 .
  • a lens array of FIG. 9 may include lens elements that are arranged in the same way as or in a similar way to the lens array 810 of FIG. 8 .
  • each of a plurality of lens elements may cover the same number of sensing elements.
  • each of first lens elements 911 may cover 16 sensing elements arranged in a 4 ⁇ 4 shape.
  • each of second lens elements 912 , third lens elements 913 , and fourth lens elements 914 may also cover 16 sensing elements.
  • a size of a sensing element in a sensing array 920 may be designed so that the same number of sensing elements may be covered by every lens element.
  • a first size (for example, a pixel size) of a first sensing element covered by a first lens element 911 may be greater than a second size of a second sensing element covered by a second lens element 912 .
  • a third size of a third sensing element may be less than the second size, and a fourth size of a fourth sensing element may be less than the third size.
  • a size of a sensing element may be, for example, a pixel pitch of the sensing element.
  • a lens element that provides a small FOV may cover the same number of sensing elements as that of a lens element that provides a large FOV. Thus, a degree of a decrease in a resolution due to multiple lenses may be reduced and a quality of a scene image to be restored may be enhanced.
  • each of the lens elements may cover a fractional number of sensing elements.
  • each of a plurality of lens elements 1011 may be randomly arranged with respect to a plurality of sensing elements on a plane corresponding to the lens array 1010 .
  • a number of lens elements 1011 may satisfy Equation 9 for each lens size, and the lens elements 1011 may be arranged on a plane of the lens array 1010 .
  • an image sensor may restore a scene image with a high resolution uniformly regardless of zoom factors supported by an individual lens size as well as a wide angle.
  • FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of an image sensor according to an example embodiment.
  • an image sensor 1100 includes a lens array 1111 , a sensing array 1120 , and a processor 1130 .
  • a lens array 1111 may include a plurality of lens elements.
  • the plurality of lens elements may be located on a lens plane. All the plurality of lens elements may have the same or similar focal lengths.
  • a plurality of lens elements may be designed to have the same focal lengths, but the focal lengths may be slightly different from each other due to a manufacturing tolerance. For example, a difference between focal lengths of the plurality of lens elements may be less than a threshold error.
  • a lens size of at least one of the plurality of lens elements may be different from a lens size of at least one other lens element.
  • Each of the plurality of lens elements may refract light and form a focal point at a point on the sensing array 1120 including a plurality of sensing elements.
  • the sensing array 1120 may include a plurality of sensing elements.
  • the plurality of sensing elements may be located on a sensing plane parallel to a lens plane.
  • the plurality of sensing elements may be located on the sensing plane spaced apart from the lens array 1111 by a distance equal to the focal length of the lens elements.
  • Each of the plurality of sensing elements may sense light passing through the lens array 1111 .
  • each of the plurality of sensing elements may receive light passing through a lens element that covers a corresponding sensing element.
  • the processor 1130 may restore a scene image based on an intensity of light sensed by the plurality of sensing elements. For example, the processor 1130 may acquire a CEV image based on sensing information sensed by the plurality of sensing elements. The processor 1130 may restore the scene image from the CEV image.
  • the scene image may be an image output from the image sensor 1100 , and may be restored to be the same as or similar to the original scene.
  • the processor 1130 may restore a scene image from a CEV image based on a geometric structure between the plurality of sensing elements and the plurality of lens elements. For example, the processor 1130 may rearrange pixels of a captured image (for example, a CEV image) to generate an output image wherein pixels of sensing elements that sense similar LF information from among the plurality of sensing elements may be rearranged to be adjacent to each other, as described above with reference to FIG. 3 .
  • a captured image for example, a CEV image
  • the processor 1130 may restore a scene image from a CEV image based on an image restoration model that is completely trained before the CEV image is acquired.
  • the image restoration model may be a model designed to output a scene image corresponding to an arbitrary CEV image, and may have a machine learning structure.
  • the image restoration model may have a neural network structure.
  • the image restoration model may be trained to output a reference output image given as a ground truth in response to an input of an arbitrary reference CEV image.
  • the image restoration model is not limited thereto.
  • FIGS. 12 and 13 are diagrams illustrating examples of an apparatus in which an image sensor is implemented according to an example embodiment.
  • An image sensor may be applicable to various technical fields.
  • the image sensor may be designed so that a lens array including a plurality of lenses may be spaced apart from a sensor including a plurality of sensing elements by a relatively small distance equal to the focal length of the lens elements in the lens array.
  • the image sensor may be implemented as an ultra-thin camera with a large sensor for high-definition capturing. In other words, a thickness of the image sensor may be reduced using a multi-lens array structure.
  • the image sensor may be implemented as an application processor (AP), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or a chip, and may be used as an image signal processor of a camera.
  • AP application processor
  • FPGA field-programmable gate array
  • the image sensor may acquire sensing information associated with a plurality of zoom factors using a lens array that has an ultra-thin structure and lens elements that have different lens sizes and the same focal length.
  • the image sensor may restore a high resolution scene image with respect to the plurality of zoom factors.
  • the image sensor may be implemented in a mobile terminal.
  • the mobile terminal may be a terminal movable instead of being fixed at any geographical position, and may include, for example, a portable device (for example, a smart device, such as a smartphone or a tablet computer), an artificial intelligence speaker, or a vehicle. Examples of a mobile terminal are shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 , however, example embodiments are not limited thereto.
  • an image sensor 1210 may be applied to a front camera or rear camera of a smartphone.
  • the image sensor 1210 may have a structure in which a large full frame sensor and a micro-lens array are combined, and may be applied to a camera of a mobile phone.
  • the image sensor 1210 may be included in a front camera or rear camera of a smart device 1200 , as shown in FIG. 12 .
  • a sensing array and a lens array of the image sensor 1210 may be implemented as, for example, a full-frame sensing array and a micro lens array, respectively.
  • the image sensor may have a thin structure or a curved structure and may be implemented for vehicles.
  • an image sensor 1310 may be implemented as a curved front camera or rear camera of a vehicle 1300 .
  • the image sensor 1310 may be used in, for example, a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, a drone, a closed-circuit television (CCTV), a webcam camera, a panoramic camera, a camera for movies or broadcasts, or a virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) camera.
  • DSLR digital single-lens reflex
  • CCTV closed-circuit television
  • the image sensor 1310 may be applicable to various fields, for example, a flexible/stretchable camera, a compound-eye camera, or a contact lens type camera.
  • the image sensor may also be applicable to a multi-frame super resolution image restoration for increasing a resolution of a video image based on information about a plurality of consecutive frames that are captured.
  • a processing device may be implemented using one or more general-purpose or special purpose computers, such as, for example, a processor, a controller and an arithmetic logic unit, a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable array, a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor or any other device capable of responding to and executing instructions in a defined manner.
  • the processing device may run an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications that run on the OS.
  • the processing device also may access, store, manipulate, process, and create data in response to execution of the software.
  • OS operating system
  • a processing device is described as a single processing device; however, one skilled in the art will appreciate that a processing device may include multiple processing elements and multiple types of processing elements.
  • a processing device may include multiple processors or a processor and a controller.
  • different processing configurations are possible, such a parallel processors.
  • the software may include a computer program, a piece of code, an instruction, or some combination thereof, to independently or collectively instruct or configure the processing device to operate as desired.
  • Software and data may be embodied permanently or temporarily in any type of machine, component, physical or virtual equipment, computer storage medium or device, or in a propagated signal wave capable of providing instructions or data to or being interpreted by the processing device.
  • the software also may be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the software is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.
  • the software and data may be stored by one or more non-transitory computer readable recording media.
  • the method according to the above-described example embodiments may be recorded in non-transitory computer-readable media including program instructions to implement various operations which may be performed by a computer.
  • the media may also include, alone or in combination with the program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like.
  • the program instructions recorded on the media may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the example embodiments, or they may be of the well-known kind and available to those having skill in the computer software arts.
  • non-transitory computer-readable media examples include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD ROM discs and DVDs; magneto-optical media such as optical discs; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, and the like.
  • program instructions include both machine code, such as code produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter.
  • the described hardware devices may be configured to act as one or more software modules in order to perform the operations of the above-described example embodiments, or vice versa.

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